PROSECUTORS 

I.          Prosecutors - most powerful officials in criminal courts
    A.        Prosecutors work with everyone in the justice system
    B.        Broad discretion
    C.        Judicial independence
    D.        Addressing prosecutor power
    E.         Decentralization 

II.        Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney conduct federal prosecutions
    A.                 Officials
        1.                  Headed by attorney general
            a.                  Head of DOJ and cabinet member
            b.                  Nominated by president and confirmed by Senate
            c.                   Nation’s chief law enforcement officer
        2.                  93 U.S. attorneys are the nation’s principal litigators.
            a.                  Serve at discretion of president with confirmation of Senate
            b.                  One U.S. attorney per district, except for Guam and Northern Mariana Islands, which share an attorney
            c.                   Chief federal law enforcement for their respective jurisdiction
            d.                  Three responsibilities
                    i.                    Prosecution of criminal cases brought by federal government
                    ii.                  Initiation and defense of civil cases in which the U.S. is a party                        iii.        Collection of certain debts owed the federal government
        3.                  Solicitor general represents the U.S. before the Supreme Court
            a.                  Solicitor general
            b.                  Criminal division
            c.                   U.S. attorneys
    B.                 Three prosecuting entities
        1.                  Solicitor general
        2.                  Criminal division
        3.                  U.S. attorneys 

III.       State prosecutors
    A.                 State attorney generals
        1.                  State’s chief legal and law enforcement officer
        2.                  Growing emphasis on civil responsibilities
    B.                 Chief prosecutors
        1.                  Chief law enforcement officer of their jurisdiction
        2.                  Prosecutors are generally elected officials
    C.                 Logical prosecutors
        1.                  Represent the government in preliminary stages of felony cases
        2.                  Process minor criminal offenses in lower courts 

IV.       Prosecutors at work
    A.                 Assistant district attorneys
        1.                  Most are hired fresh out of law school.
        2.                  High turnover rate due to law salary and heavy caseloads
    B.                 Learning the job
        1.                  General orientation
        2.                  Evaluated by how quickly and efficiently they dispose of cases
        3.                  Also evaluated by how many convictions they obtain
    C.                 Office structure
        1.                  Vertical prosecution
        2.                  Horizontal prosecution
        3.                  Increasing use of specialization
    D.                Supervision
        1.                  Traditionally based on autonomy and provided great freedom
        2.                  Trends towards rigid policies and compliance
        3.                  Attempts to control the work of assistants tends to erode morale 

V.        Prosecutors and the courtroom work group
    A.        The prosecutors is the most important member of the work group.
        1.         Prosecutors set the agenda and control cases
        2.         Prosecutors control the flow of information and evidence
    B.        Two models of justice
        1.         Adversarial model
        2.         Administrative model
    C.        Political philosophies
        1.         Office conservator
        2.         Courthouse insurgents
        3.         Policy reformers

VI.       The expanding domain of the prosecutor
    A.                 Improving police-prosecutor relationships
        1.                  Prosecutors need good information to win in court.
            a.                  Inadequate reports
            b.                  Thoroughness of police investigations
        2.                  Thus prosecutors try to improve relations with police.
            a.                  Better communication
            b.                  Better coordination
    B.                 Case processing vs. social problems
        1.                  Traditionally local prosecutors only processed cases.
        2.                  Today may local prosecutors are involved in problem-oriented approaches that stress crime prevention
        3.                  Problem-oriented approaches have three common elements:
            a.                  Recognition that crime prevention is a legitimate prosecutorial goal
            b.                  The most effective results are obtained with small, manageable areas
            c.                   Change is more likely to occur through cooperation